A Hong Kong court order related to a fraud claim has been “successfully executed” after being sent to two cryptocurrency wallets using tokenisation technology, a novel approach that experts have said they believe will set a precedent for other jurisdictions and boost the city’s appeal as a tech hub.
The injunction order, which prohibits disposal of assets “worldwide and in Hong Kong”, was served to the unknown holders of two wallet addresses on the Tron blockchain after a Hong Kong company fell victim to a false representation scam and lost more than US$2.6 million.
The civil claim’s plaintiff is Worldwide A-Plus, a marketing consultancy that transferred US$2.66 million worth of Tether, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, to two wallets controlled by scammers that purported to be salespeople from a hacked online marketing platform.
The order, which listed the unknown holders of the two wallets as the case’s defendants, was granted by High Court Deputy Judge Douglas Lam on December 5 and subsequently served by law firm Ravenscroft & Schmierer in the form of a “tokenised legal notice”.
Public records retrieved on blockchain scanner platform Tronscan on January 17 show that both wallets contain a token named “2-Jan25-Notice”, which was transferred on January 3 and carried a message that stated the initial court order remained in effect.
“Please refer to the hyperlink in our previous legal notice dated Dec 9 2024 for a copy of the relevant court order and the plaintiff’s statement of costs, which has now been served on you, by way of Tokenised Legal Notice,” the message read.
